Ejmiatsin originated in the 7th century bce as the town of Vardkesavan and was renamed Vagarshapat about 140 ce, when the Parthian king Vologases III made it his capital. Upon the conversion of Armenia to Christianity about 300 ce, Vagarshapat became the residence of the Armenian patriarch. In 344 the town ceased to be the Armenian capital, and in 453 the patriarchal seat was removed elsewhere, but in 1441 the catholicos Kirakos brought back the seat to Vagarshapat, which thereafter remained the home of the “catholicos of all Armenians.”

The monastery, founded in the 6th century ce and called Echmiadzin from the 10th century, consists of a complex of buildings surrounded by a brick wall 30 feet (10 metres) high; it includes a modern college and seminary. The present cathedral, on the site of the original church, goes back to the 7th century but was considerably restored after 1441. In the cathedral treasury is the hand (relic) of St. Gregory the Illuminator. The cathedral and churches in Ejmiatsin, along with nearby archaeological remains, were collectively named a UNESCOWorld Heritage site in 2000.

The city itself is the centre of a rich region of orchards and vineyards and manufactures plastics, wine, and canned food. Pop. (2008 est.) 57,300.

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Gregory the Illuminator, the first head of the Armenian church, and his early successors had their residence at Ejmiadzin. It was moved to Dvin from 485 to 927 and then was located variously until 1293, when the catholicosate (the church’s highest ecclesiastical administrative office) was transferred to the Cilician capital, Sis (now Kozan, Turkey), where it remained after the fall of Cilicia...

According to a long-standing tradition, the most reliable oral transmission of the chant occurs in the religious capital of Armenia, Ejmiadzin, and in a few isolated monasteries. An important centre for Armenian musical studies is the Armenian Catholic Monastery of San Lazzaro in Venice (founded 1717), where the traditional Armenian melodies are said to be fairly well preserved.

country of Transcaucasia, lying just south of the great mountain range of the Caucasus and fronting the northwestern extremity of Asia. To the north and east Armenia is bounded by Georgia and Azerbaijan, while its neighbours to the southeast and west are, respectively, Iran and Turkey....